YOUR 2024 BRAIN BRAWN MINI RESOLUTION EXERCISE INTRO: WEEK 1

Originally published April 29, 2024

Introducing your NEW Mini Resolution: Exercise!

Good morning! We hope Motivated Mondays 2024 is helping you to eat less added sugar, sleep better and enjoy the benefits of nature! We are now ready for our next resolution: exercise!
 
Exercise is the most extensively researched lifestyle factor associated with cognitive decline. This data has shown that exercise yields a universal, positive impact on cognitive function.
 
In fact, a quick search within the National Library of Congress for search terms "exercise and cognitive function" yields 95,200,000 study results! In these studies, the degree of impact to the individual is different based upon several variables, such as a history of previous physical activity, the intensity of the exercise, the modality of the exercise, the age, genetic susceptibility, biological sex of the participant and the degree of cognitive impairment already experienced (or not). However, at this writing, the evidence is irrefutable: exercise improves cognitive function in one or more domains and can also decelerate cognitive decline.
 
Below we present information about how exercise impacts the brain.

IMPORTANT: Keep scrolling after reading the information in the pink box below to select your mini resolution exercise track: beginner or intermediate!

Exercise & The Brain
How does exercise specifically impact the brain?

DIRECT benefits of exercise to the brain:

• BDNF: Exercise induces the secretion of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which stimulates neuroplasticity, meaning it encourages the brain to reorganize its structure and function to protect existing neurons and to grow new neurons. More neurons and reorganized structure equate to better communication between neurons. This occurs in most areas of the brain, but primarily in the hippocampus—the area of the brain associated with learning and memory. BDNF is considered Miracle Grow for the brain!
  
  
• Blood flow: It is true that what is good for your heart is good for your brain! One cardiovascular benefit of exercise is its ability to prevent arterial stiffness and improve blood flow. Likewise, there is a correlation between cerebral arterial stiffness/reduced cerebral blood flow and MCI and dementia. Blood brings with it vital oxygen and nutrients (including antioxidants which combat inflammation and growth factors which promote neurogenesis!) for your neurons. A lack of either can injure your neurons or prevent their repair. Injured neurons cannot communicate with one another effectively. Exercise induces increased blood flow to the brain and prevents stiffening of the arteries in the brain, just like in the heart. (Fun fact:  Our brains receive on average the equivalent of about 3 soda cans of blood per minute!)
  
  
• Brain size: People who exercise not only have larger muscles but also larger brains! The hippocampus (part of the brain associated with memory and learning) can experience age-related atrophy. Exercise has been shown to both stave and reverse this shrinkage. Exercise also adds volume to the pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for executive function, one of the 6 domains of cognition, and considered "the management system for the brain." Interestingly, the effect of exercise on executive function is more pronounced as age is increased-so you really are never too old!
  
  
• Blood sugar management: We all know how important exercise is to managing levels of sugar in the blood. While we associate high blood sugar with diabetes, we recently learned in our February mini-resolution of the negative impact of sugar on the brain. Physical activity "uses up" blood sugar and makes your body more insulin sensitive. Here is the link to our February 5th edition of Motivated Mondays, if you would like to revisit the impact of added sugar on cognitive health.

 
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INDIRECT benefits of exercise to the brain:

• ​Sleep: People who exercise tend to sleep better than those who do not exercise. You may recall from our resolution to “Sleep Better” that exercise increases the production of a neurotransmitter called adenosine, which builds the pressure for sleep. Thus, exercisers are tired at the end of the day, falling asleep faster and staying asleep longer. Sleep has a potent impact on the brain. It flushes the brain of toxins which can accumulate as a result of normal biophysical activities during waking hours. Here is the link to our March 11th Motivated Mondays email, should you like to revisit the importance of sleep to cognitive health.​
• Stress/Anxiety: People who exercise tend to manage their stress and anxiety better than those who do not. While exercise can be stimulating via the neurotransmitters produced (we have all heard of a "runner's high"), it can also reduce stress, anxiety and depression and improve self-confidence. This is in part because people who exercise sleep better and those who sleep better manage their emotional response to stressful situations better. It is also due to an improved ability to physiologically respond to the chemicals produced by stress. We will have a future Brain Brawn mini resolution focused on reducing stress.

​CHOOSE YOUR TRACK: BEGINNER OR INTERMEDIATE

Now that you know some of the many ways exercise affects your brain's health, let's get started by choosing your track.

Select which option best applies to you, beginner (starting a new routine) or intermediate (optimizing an existing routine), and click the associated link for your tailored Brain Brawn mini resolution and to download your log:

Click for Track 1: Beginner

Click for Track 2: Intermediate